The film opens with Ye Rutang (Siqin Gaowa) greeting her nephew (Guan Wenshuo) at the railway station. She lives alone in the metropolis of Shanghai - although the film later reveals how much she has given up by choosing to stay in the vibrant metropolis - and her nephew, no matter how naughty, has brought her a sense of companionship which she has apparently yearned for. But her nephew exploits her affection to cheat his old-fashioned, at least morally, but affectionate aunt. Then she comes across this poverty- stricken woman (Shi Ke) whom she employs as a home-stay domestic helper. But she also turns out a fraud, just that she does not target Ye Rutang.

Then enters Pan Zhichang (Chow Yun Fat), who seems to be really cultured and nice. Our aunt, who longs for love, falls for this suave gentleman and joins his business venture. She still hasn't learned that the city is a space where we encounter strangers, not lovers. Ye Rutang is once again hurt, financially and emotionally. A lot of debates spring up on this: Is Pan Zhichang a real fraud or is he, like Ye Rutang, just a victim of his failed investment project? I don't have an answer to this question, but neither do I need one. To me, the lesson here is: don't get emotionally involved with anyone if you are living in a metropolis, otherwise you will suffer from some kind of loss - money, love, or both.

For Ye Rutang to survive in Shanghai, she needs to assume an indifferent attitude to all the changes in the city, even if they deviate from her old standards. This is a necessary evil of living in the city, which is by definition rapidly evolving. The same applies to the changing human relationships. In fact, all emotional associations between people in this film break down in the end. For Ye Rutang, the dissociation of affectionate bonds actually started more than two decades ago, ever since she was attracted to the city.

The surreal, exaggeratedly enormous moon perhaps signifies a moment of epiphany to Ye Rutang, and later to her nephew, of the need to re-establish emotional alliances in response to her inner calls. But there is a price to pay, regardless of the outcome of the attempt. She has to give up the splendid lifestyle of living in Shanghai. But even before she leaves the city, she has started to gradually replace her splendid clothes with less colorful ones and eventually appears in dull-colored attire in the end. She might have already realized, consciously or subconsciously, that she is unfit for survival in Shanghai.

While Ye Rutang has lost the battle in fighting against solitude in the metropolitan, Ann Hui is still enduring loneliness in the film industry of the metropolitan city. Quality films do not necessarily guarantee box-office successes, and in fact The Postmodern Life of My Aunt didn't. But in her filming career, Ann Hui has never given up producing remarkable motion pictures even if the masses do not really know how to appreciate them.